Deceptive
by HoldoutTrout
Summary: Inspired by knightedrogue's HL espionage stories, including Solo's Girl. New scene, Deceptive Kisses, loaded December 2.
1. Chapter 1

**Deceptive Black Eyes**

Disclaimer: I'm a big fan, but that's all I am.

Author's note: KnightedRogue's fantastic Han/Leia espionage stories (starting with "Solo's Girl") inspired me to write one of my own. If you like this, you'll love hers. I might be persuaded to write more; I think there's a lot of opportunity to have some fun with these characters and the setting.

* * *

It was a long-term assignment, undercover, and after three weeks of constantly remembering to turn when she was called by an unfamiliar name, Leia Organa Solo had finally relaxed. 

"Thala! Come over here and order something so this poor waiter can get back to his job!"

The call came from a table filled with three women, all around Leia's age, give or take ten years. Over the last couple of weeks she'd been assimilated into a tight-knit group of women who shared three characteristics: they were wealthy, mostly bored wives of hard-working corporate husbands, and none of them had children. Leia had actually found herself enjoying their company—once she found out they were not the empty-headed trophy wives she'd expected.

_Mostly_, she mused, _they just don't have a good outlet for their intelligence. For that matter, I'm not supposed to, either_.

She smiled as she approached the table of women, although once she got nearer, all the faces looking toward her expressed dismay, worry, and suspicion. She ignored the looks pointedly for a moment while she ordered a light lunch and some benign drink she'd never have the time to enjoy if it weren't for assignments like this. The waiter pretended politely that nothing was amiss and left promising to bring their food as quickly as possible.

"That'll be a while in a place as busy as this," remarked one of the women, a short blond who wore many gold but tasteful earrings.

The middle woman, a slightly older blond, frowned. "Okay, so he's gone. What happened?" The whole table was now scrutinizing her rather impressive black eye, and Leia knew they were analyzing every inch of it as if it would tell them what happened.

Leia shook her head and, with a little effort, blushed. "It's not what it looks like. I…ran into something last night."

_Yeah, if the butt of a blaster counts as something._

"Now, honey," began the older woman, but the third woman, who was by far the youngest except for Leia, interrupted.

"It's none of our business unless she tells us. Besides, I can't see Thala standing for that sort of thing, even from that brute she calls a husband." Her tone at the last part was teasing and exaggerated.

"I heard that, Eriya" a masculine voice retorted from behind Leia.

Leia turned in her seat to find Han standing behind her.

_Damn it. He must've been worried after all. Or he has news about last night._

"Jedo! What are you doing here?"

Han approximated casualness. "I was just going back to our place and saw you four through the window. I thought I'd stop by." His cover as a slightly itinerate merchant gave him a lot of freedom of movement. He gave her a quick kiss. "I didn't think I'd find you in here telling stories about me."

Leia said, "I just told them about running into the door."

Han smirked. "Thala, people don't buy that story when it's the truth."

One of the women giggled.

Leia lowered her voice. "Well, do you want me to tell them the real story? Involving dessert, the bath, and your elbow?"

All three women were now trying to stifle laughs.

Han flicked his eyes deliberately over their direction, then back again. "Hey, it wasn't my fault someone was a little slippery." He leaned in again for another kiss, this one a little bit deeper and a lot more sensual.

Eriya coughed.

As Han pulled away, Leia colored more—not all of it deliberate. Han grinned again, and Leia rolled her eyes internally. If there was one thing she could count on, it was Han's pleasure in embarrassing her.

He straightened. "I'd better be getting off, then. Eriya, Sira, Yske." He nodded to each of the women and turned back to Leia. "I'll see you at home later."

With another quick kiss, he was gone. Leia reluctantly faced her dining companions. They were all grinning at her. Leia was forestalled from having to making any remark by their food arriving.

Once the waiter had again departed, Leia stabbed at her plate with her fork. "No comment."

"Oh, of course not, Thala. We'll leave your love life well alone." This came from Sira, the middle one. "We don't need anything as mundane as details."

Eriya said, "I told you Thala wouldn't stand for that sort of thing."

Leia was grateful for the deflection from Eriya. She often seemed to be the most discrete of the three friends.

_I wish, though, that there hadn't been anything to be discrete about today. That meeting didn't go well last night, and I just hope no one saw me exiting that place afterward. Otherwise my cover's blown, and someone else will have to start all over. Although Han didn't drag me away from the table, so maybe he was just being reassuring. _

Sira sighed. "I wish Liwen would be that demonstrative in public. He always comes across as so cold."

Leia and the others smiled sympathetically. Even though she'd only been here for three weeks, Leia had already heard plenty about what was wrong with everyone's husband. She said, "Well, sometimes Jedo's a little…too…affectionate."

Yske snorted into her glass. Her husband allegedly ignored her except when they were in public, but no one actually said anything about the mistress they were sure he had. Eriya's story was that her husband had just quit his job and was "looking for work," which seemed to consist of getting up late and generally disrupting her quiet, orderly life.

The conversation continued along comfortable, easy lines until the waiter came with the check.

"My turn," Sira announced.

Leia frowned. "No, I think it's supposed to be mine." In the old days, before the New Republic took over with what seemed like nigh-inexhaustible coffers, she might have let it slide, but she was pretty sure Sira had paid last time, too.

Sira shook her head. "No, let me get it. Kej told me yesterday I wasn't spending enough."

Eriya and Yske made the same mocking look of resignation, although Leia looked confused.

Sira said, "My husband insists that I live appropriately for my station. That means lots of pretty clothes, shoes, and lunches out. When he thinks I'm not spending enough, he gets testy and starts to wonder why he's killing himself at work."

"Then she tells him he could quit," added Yske,

"But since he loves what he does," continued Sira,

"He refuses outright," Eriya finished.

Sira said, "It's easier just to tell him that I've been meaning to take everyone out to lunch or buy something and…thank him profusely for being such a loving, devoted husband."

Leia grinned. "'Thank him,' huh? I have the feeling that works on just about any man."

They laughed. "More or less," Sira admitted. "It's sneaky and underhanded, but it works. We avoid days of arguing this way."

Yske said, "Hmmm. So are you all coming to our party this weekend?"

They all nodded.

_Yeah, I'm coming. And while I'm there I'm just going to break into your husband's study and steal his latest designs so we can have them before the Empire does_. Leia thought almost guiltily. Yske's husband was the vice-president for a very groundbreaking military design group. As much as she liked Yske, the designs were a large part of why she and Han were ordered into Imperial space yet again, despite the very real danger of being recognized. And if, by some miracle she and Han didn't get caught stealing the designs, they were supposed to keep undercover as long as possible to continue mining the group when the opportunity presented itself.

Leia smiled at Yske. "I wouldn't miss it for the world."

* * *

So tell me what you think! Should I write more? 


	2. Deceptive Kisses

Deceptive Kisses

Disclaimer: Nope, still don't own Star Wars. Pity, that.

Author's Note: Finally, a follow-up! I wanted to write a new scene from this world, and I just couldn't figure out how to approach it…until Han told me to start with him.

Han paused at the top of the stairs, unable to contain a grin as his wife's low voice cut through the other women's soft, polite tones.

"I think this new government will probably fail within the year," she said disdainfully. "Fey'la and his cadre don't strike me as being particularly capable of the diplomatic maneuvering needed to hang on to the Hapes Cluster, and that's where most of the strength of the New Republic lies. They'll either have to start reacting very differently to the Hapan Ambassador, or they'll see their support fade."

_She can sound so…aristocratic when she needs to_, Han thought with just a touch of glee. _Those quasi-politicians won't know what hit them._ He knew that if there was one thing Leia enjoyed more than anything, it was the chance to show up self-important people at their own game.

He felt a twinge of guilt as he thought about how their lives left little opportunity for her to be the diplomat she was trained to be, but dismissed it with the thought of another conversation.

_"Do you regret not sticking around?" ___

_The answer was short and definite. "Gods, no. Can you imagine the boredom, the power struggles, the sheer amount of work? Besides, we've done enough; we're doing enough." _

And that was before they'd signed on to be ghosts for the NRI. He resumed his stroll through the second story of the mansion, letting a smile turn up one corner of his mouth. He took a left at the end of the short central hallway, practiced feigned surprise. _My room's to the_ right _at the top of the stairs? You don't say! _

He paused at the third door down. Everything up to this point was easy, but if he was caught in the office…

Han shrugged and opened the door, using the elaborate lock pick he'd listened to C-3PO drone on about for entirely too long. He was in and rifling through papers as quickly as he could. Leia would make sure no one missed him as long as she could, but even her talents had limits. He lock-picked the bottom drawer and brushed the bottom, grinning when he pulled up the false panel and found what he was looking for. He listened for the sounds of footsteps as he copied the data f rom the memory chip to his own, slightly smaller, version. It took longer to copy than to steal, but the last thing he and Leia needed in this particular venture was a blown cover.

Finished, he put everything back just so, and ducked out into the hall. He just passed the second door when someone grabbed him f rom behind. He smelled her perfume just in time to avoid hitting her, instead overbalancing and ending up against the wall just inside an alcove also home to a very ugly nude statue.

"Don't do that to me!" he complained. 

"Sorry," she said. She didn't look particularly remorseful, especially not when she smiled and stretched up to kiss him, twining her arms around his neck to make him bend down a little to accommodate her.

A couple of breathless minutes later, she asked against his lips, "Did you get it?"

It took a moment to realize what she was asking. "Uh…yeah! Yes, I did. I thought you were supposed to bore everyone while I was away."

She shrugged. "They served dinner early. Said I'd come looking for you."

"Not that I'm complaining, but why are we up here?"

She leaned closer again. "There are many good answers to that question." She kissed him, opening her lips to let him taste her.

When she pulled back, he whispered, "So what you're really saying is you wanted to accost me."

"Mmmm. Pretty much."

He put his hands on her hips to draw her closer, wondering if she used to wear silky fabrics like this one all the time. There hadn't been a lot of time lately for formal dresses. He was pretty sure the low neckline was a fairly recent phenomenon, not remembering her wearing anything quite as low before they were married.

_Again, not complaining_, he thought as he kissed her and subtly slid the thin fabric up a little, wondering how much he could get away with before Leia noticed.

"Oh, I can't believe this," said a voice f rom the hallway in tones of disgust. "You simply cannot be making out at my party with your _husband_."

Han and Leia broke apart, Leia looking a little flushed—to Han's satisfaction.

Yske stood just down the hall, shaking her head. "You're making my poor cook frantic with worry that the food will be cold, and we're not even going to get a scandal out of it."

Han grinned. "It's her fault," he said, pointing to Leia, who tried her best to look innocently offended.

"Don't look at me. _He's_ the scoundrel."

She gave them a measuring look. "I'm sure. Now are you ready to come downstairs and eat amazingly expensive food or not?"

Han gestured to Leia to go first. He followed her, both of them gently tugging clothes back into their proper places. 

Yske rolled her eyes. "Just imagine if I'd been two minutes slower!"


End file.
